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305 environmental program. Emphasizing that the role of law schools is to train «law students, not lawyers»,
Susan Smith of Willamette University thinks that, specialization at the J.D. level should be resisted because
«environmental law changes too quickly to risk making anyone into a specialist. While lawyers may
310 develop specialties in their practice, they will also need to be able readily retool, which is best
accomplished by a generalist J.D. without overconcentration in any field of practice, much less any subfield
315 of practice». Smith forecasts that «trends toward integrated pollution control, pollution prevention, and risk
assessment» may counsel against specialization because there may arrive «a new generation of oldschool
lawyers who are counselors to businesses..... rather than legal technicians».
3.Law school have discovered that the development of specialized programs can have a significant
320 effect on the types of students attracted to law school. Schools, such as the University of Maryland, that
have not been considered among the top national law schools have found that, by developing specialized
programs in health law and environmental law, they have been able to attract a significantly higher-quality
325 student body. Increased specialization also has brought changes in faculty recruitment practices. Many law
schools that traditionally had refused to recruit for specific subject matter «slots» except in fields like tax
law are finding that environmental law has become such a specialized field that it makes sense to seek our
330 faculty with experience in environmental practice. Increased specialization also may have other, more
subtle consequences on law school faculties. Ronald Rosenberg of William & Mary notes that, as law gets
more specialized, there is increasing isolation among faculty members whose colleagues are less able to
335 critique or understand their work. Seton Hall's Marc Poirer agrees and argues that it is becoming more
important for environmental law professors to communicate with environmental faculty at other schools.
340
4. Specialization requires a substantial commitment of resources, which may be difficult for schools in
times of fiscal stringency. As a result, many schools are relying heavly on adjuncts to teach specialized
environmental courses. Although some professors express concern that practitioners will bury students in
345 minutia, Arnold Reitze of George Washington University doubts, given the complexity of the
environmental field, that «any law school could afford to use only full-time faculty» to offer a
comprehensive environmental law program. He notes that it is easier to find qualified adjuncts in the
350 Washington, D.C. area because so much environmental practice takes place there.
IV Interdisciplinary Studies
1.Many environmental law professors agree that more effort needs to be directed to curricular reform of
interdisciplinary studies. Given the importance of science and economics in environmental policy
355 controversies, many agree that it would be desirable for environmental law students to acquire more
familiarity with other disciplines. Richard Merrill of the University of Virginia notes that, «in most
environmental law fields, lawyers don't work only, or even chiefly, with other lawyers; they work with
360 scientists and engineers. We ought to expose students to this reality in a coherent way» William H.
Rodgers, Jr., of the University of Washington in Seattle says that the «issues of global change are
threatening to make a shambles of traditional disciplinary demarcations», and Craig Oren wonders «if our
365 students acquire any notion of how science fits into public policy formulation». He fears that a lot of them
think of science as kind of a black box from which data emerge».
2.
Many law schools allow their students to receive credit for a limited number of courses taken in
370 other departments. Although professors report that a few brave students interested in environmental law
take courses in other subjects, such as epidemiology or environmental science, the number of students
doing so does not appear to be very significant. Moreover, such courses are not truly interdisciplinary
375 because they do not attempt to integrate insights and concepts from more than one discipline.
3.There appear to be substantial institutional barriers to successful interdisciplinary work, including
380 incompatible academic calendars, the geographic isolation between some law schools and the relevant
university departments, and schools' unwillingness to give professors credit for teaching in other depart-
ments. Boston University professor Michael Baram cites the fact that the «culture of law schools is so
385 formalized and rule-bound» as a barrier to inrerdisciplinary work. Wishing for a «nearby school of public
health», Richard Merrill notes that Virginia's «environmental sciences program is ecosystem focused while
lawyers are human— health focused».
3.
Some efforts are under way to increase the exposure of environmental law students.to other
390 disciplines. Professors report an increase in the number of non-law students taking environmental law
courses. Baram, who has a joint appointment between Boston University's law school and its School of